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Suspect in cop's death found dead

July 26, 2004|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

STERLING HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN — A man suspected of killing a police officer as he sat in his patrol car in a Detroit suburb committed suicide Sunday as officers raided the Florida home where he was staying, authorities said.

Timothy Berner, 33, shot himself in Florida using the gun he stole from the slain officer, Sterling Heights Police Chief Barnett Jones said.

Berner was accused of shooting 30-year-old Officer Mark Sawyers the night of June 4 in a parking lot in Sterling Heights, a Detroit suburb. The officer had been filling out a police report for an unrelated traffic accident.